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A review by estroniaid
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
iron widow was a weirdly uncomfortable historical fanfiction that i couldn't finish and got haunted by it through my friend whom i buddy read with.
the writing was ok if bland, just felt like fanfiction from a list of the authors interests with nothing creative to really distance itself from it. their personal site mentions they're a fan of yugioh, yeah, we can tell. the gender conversation in the beginning was so hamfisted i remember laughing, it was all i could do.
the dialogue made me cringe more often than not, very immature and juvenile.
the writing was ok if bland, just felt like fanfiction from a list of the authors interests with nothing creative to really distance itself from it. their personal site mentions they're a fan of yugioh, yeah, we can tell. the gender conversation in the beginning was so hamfisted i remember laughing, it was all i could do.
the dialogue made me cringe more often than not, very immature and juvenile.
“You’ve been living a dream for long enough!” I yell at the cameras
between bursts of maniacal laughter, raising my arms. “Welcome to your
nightmare!”
“Yeah, nothing Heroic about it.” Sima Yi rolls his eyes. “It’s more like
a...Villainous Form.”
“Sweetie, you are in no position to
make demands. You should be thanking your ancestors that we’re keeping
you alive at all.”
“Yeah, we’re not the ones who want you dead, you unhinged bitch!”
there's so many more examples but they all made me want to crawl out of my skin.
the synopsis spoiled what the entire first arch was about so the first hour of reading was just a longer synopsis which didn't help with enjoying it right off the cuff.
this books 'feminism' is immature and lacking. zetian does not befriend another woman for majority of the book. other women are either idiots, cruel or some other kind of negative connotation.
the protagonist is always right even if she's wrong. she has character growth worth a net zero throughout the whole book. zhao- sorry i meant zetian is a walking mouthpiece for the author, nothing in the story was described it was told to us. the men suck, wait no, they used 'males'. males suck, they're evil repeated over and over for over 300 pages. we got it i promise. she has little personality beyond her original 'get revenge grr grr.'
the treatment of the rongdi is uncomfortable, especially when the real derogatory word, róngdí, used for non-han peoples, often demoting them as 'barbarians'. therefore i will be spelling it correctly with the accent marks.
蛮夷 蠻夷 (Chinese) trad. 蠻夷, simpl. 蛮夷 Pronunciation Mandarin: mányí Noun 蠻夷 (historical, derogatory) The non-Han ethnic groups living in modern-day.
and,
'róngdí.... denoting "non-Chinese; foreigners; barbarians." Hieroglyphics refer to these groups all have a section for indicating "animal/insect". Nowadays, Chinese characters have omitted this symbolic section, so the Chinese characters quoted above only have the "dog symbol" 犭 in the word Dí 狄.'
which is incredibly weird when we are then introduced to the only half-róngdí character in a dog muzzle...
I don’t know what’s more terrifying
—the dark steel muzzle clamped around much of his face,.... (pg. 94)
are you serious?
speaking of him, Li Shimin deserves far better than whatever this story is giving him. the narrative objectifies him, treats him like shit, his character is torture porn through and through; brutalised, tortured, forced into drugs and organ trading, treated inhumanely (the other LI even tugs on his 'leash' and its treated as a positive moment.....). him being half- róngdí is used so weirdly....like the protagonist is written to think of him like this,
speaking of him, Li Shimin deserves far better than whatever this story is giving him. the narrative objectifies him, treats him like shit, his character is torture porn through and through; brutalised, tortured, forced into drugs and organ trading, treated inhumanely (the other LI even tugs on his 'leash' and its treated as a positive moment.....). him being half- róngdí is used so weirdly....like the protagonist is written to think of him like this,
It’s receiving nothing but a jumble of conflicting cues. Han versus Rongdi.
Danger versus docility. Drunkard criminal versus invincible pilot. Iron
Demon versus human boy.
versus? why is the next thing to come along danger or docility? this is all i could keep asking myself as i trudged through this. why why why.
on the topic of róngdí, the second and only róngdí woman is writtenly equally horribly. an insulting stereotype, her family is a bunch of cheats, liars and addicts take advantage of her financially. given these are the only róngdí in the entire book, and series (as of now) it sure isn't the kindest of representations.
lastly, a personal issue: the protagonist is meant to be 'chubby' or 'thick' (you can say fat its ok), in some way. in the book she's described as not 'thin' and yet the all the art the author commissions is thin as thin can be. nice work.
on the topic of róngdí, the second and only róngdí woman is writtenly equally horribly. an insulting stereotype, her family is a bunch of cheats, liars and addicts take advantage of her financially. given these are the only róngdí in the entire book, and series (as of now) it sure isn't the kindest of representations.
lastly, a personal issue: the protagonist is meant to be 'chubby' or 'thick' (you can say fat its ok), in some way. in the book she's described as not 'thin' and yet the all the art the author commissions is thin as thin can be. nice work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism